Gold Fields : Swings to Loss in 2017

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Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI.JO) said Wednesday that it swung to a loss in 2017 after incurring a $278 million impairment at its South Deep project near Johannesburg.

Last year, the South African gold miner made a loss of $35 million compared with a profit attributable to the company of $162.8 million in the year earlier.

However, revenue increased to $2.81 billion from $2.75 billion.

The Johannesburg-listed company lowered the final dividend to ZAR0.50 a share from ZAR0.60 This brought the total dividend for 2017 to ZAR0.90, down from ZAR1.10 in 2016.

Group production for 2017 increased 1% to 2.16 million ounces of gold from 2.15 million ounces. The company estimates that group attributable equivalent gold production for 2018 will be between 2.08 million ounces and 2.1 million ounces in 2018.

Gold Fields said the South Deep project was unable to recover from the tough fist quarter in 2017 which was impacted by fatalities and unexpected movement of rock mass in the high-grade areas, which resulted in production for the year at the project 11% below original guidance.